Care advice visit under § 37 Abs. 3 SGB XI in Berlin

If you draw care allowance (Pflegegeld), you have to call up the advisory visit at fixed intervals – including when only part of it reaches you as a combined benefit (Kombinationsleistung). We come to your home, talk with the person who does the caring and send the record to your long-term care insurance fund (Pflegekasse). For people with statutory long-term care insurance we bill the visit directly with the fund.

030 64828209 – call now

The advisory visit under § 37 Abs. 3 SGB XI concerns everyone who draws care allowance (Pflegegeld) and is looked after at home by relatives, neighbours or friends – including when the money only arrives in part because care benefits in kind under § 36 SGB XI are being drawn alongside it (combined benefit, Kombinationsleistung, under § 38 SGB XI). At care level (Pflegegrad) 2 and 3 the visit falls due every six months, at Pflegegrad 4 and 5 every three months. People with Pflegegrad 1, and everyone who takes benefits in kind only, may also call it up voluntarily every six months. You arrange the appointment yourself; no doctor's prescription (Verordnung) is needed for it.

What matters is the quality of the care at home. We look at how the day is organised and give practical pointers: on moving and positioning, on skin care, on handling medication, on taking the pressure off the person who does the caring. We talk about options such as substitute care (Verhinderungspflege) or short-term care (Kurzzeitpflege), and about whether an application for a higher care level (Pflegegrad) looks worthwhile. If an aid is missing, we tell you where the application belongs – and that the Pflegekasse as a rule only lends out equipment under § 40 SGB XI; only where ownership is transferred does a co-payment of ten percent remain for adults, capped at 25 euros. Questions from relatives have the same place here as our own observations.

Who is allowed to carry out the visit is set out in the law itself: approved care services, alongside them advice centres recognised by the Landesverbände, and individual qualified nurses whom the Pflegekasse has specifically commissioned to do it (§ 37 Abs. 3 SGB XI). The choice is therefore yours; we are one of the possible providers. Sonnenstrahlen Pflege UG (haftungsbeschränkt) is one of the approved services through its supply contract (Versorgungsvertrag) under SGB XI, and alongside that provides home nursing care on a doctor's prescription under SGB V. You can call the visit up from us even if we do not otherwise care for you. Three addresses share the journeys: Sickingenstr. 52 (10553 Moabit), Heilbronner Str. 1 (10711 Halensee) and Theodor-Heuss-Platz 1 (14052 Westend). We advise in German, English and Russian.

The four topics of the advisory visit

Keeping the quality of care up

We look at the care at home, talk about where it weighs heavy and say where things could run more safely.

Practical handling for everyday care

We show moving, positioning and washing right in your own home – with your furniture, in your bathroom, not on a dummy.

Aids and relief

We check which aids are missing and which relief services you are entitled to, such as substitute care (Verhinderungspflege) or day care (Tagespflege).

Record for the Pflegekasse

We document the visit on the form and send the record to your long-term care insurance fund (Pflegekasse). You receive a copy.

Where we travel for the advisory visit

The same area applies to the advisory visit as to ongoing care: the west and the north of Berlin. Behind each district are the postcodes we actually drive to there; in Wedding that is limited to 13353. What decides it on the phone is your own postcode.

  • Moabit
  • Hansaviertel
  • Tiergarten
  • Wedding (13353 only)
  • Charlottenburg
  • Charlottenburg-Nord
  • Westend
  • Siemensstadt
  • Spandau
  • Halensee and Wilmersdorf
  • Grunewald, Dahlem, Schmargendorf
  • Schöneberg and Friedenau

Postcodes: 10551, 10553, 10555, 10557, 10559, 10585, 10587, 10589, 10623, 10625, 10627, 10629, 10707, 10709, 10711, 10713, 10717, 10719, 10777, 10779, 10787, 10789, 10825, 12159, 12161, 13353, 13597, 13599, 13627, 13629, 14050, 14052, 14053, 14055, 14057, 14059, 14193, 14195, 14197, 14199

Who pays for the advisory visit

The statutory long-term care insurance fund (Pflegekasse) carries the cost of the advisory visit. We bill it directly with them and charge you nothing for it; the same applies to the voluntary advice at Pflegegrad 1. For this appointment the law does not provide for a co-payment of the kind found in home nursing care under SGB V. If you are privately insured for long-term care, you get a receipt from us and submit it under your tariff – what it reimburses for this, you will learn there.

If the required record fails to arrive, the Pflegekasse must reduce the care allowance (Pflegegeld) appropriately and withdraw it if it happens again (§ 37 Abs. 6 SGB XI). That is why the completed form goes from us to the fund after the visit, and a copy stays with you. If you no longer know when the next visit is due, give us the care level (Pflegegrad) and the date of the last visit – then we work it out together.

How the appointment is arranged

  1. Call or write: 030 64828209 or info@sonnenstrahlen-pflege.de. You will hear from us the same working day.
  2. Clarify Pflegegrad and deadline: We check your postcode, the care level (Pflegegrad) and when the next visit falls due.
  3. Advice in your own home: A qualified nurse comes to the flat, advises the person who does the caring and answers open questions.
  4. Record and next appointment: We send the record to the Pflegekasse and remind you in good time about the next appointment.

Questions about the Beratungseinsatz

What does the advisory visit under § 37.3 cost?

People with statutory long-term care insurance pay nothing. The Pflegekasse covers the visit and we bill it directly with them. For this appointment the law does not provide for a co-payment, not even for the voluntary advice with Pflegegrad 1. Anyone privately insured for long-term care receives our receipt for their own tariff.

How often does the advisory visit fall due?

That depends on the care level (Pflegegrad) and concerns everyone who draws care allowance (Pflegegeld) – including a combination of Pflegegeld and benefits in kind under § 38 SGB XI. Pflegegrad 2 and 3: every six months. Pflegegrad 4 and 5: every three months. With Pflegegrad 1, and if you take benefits in kind only, you may call the advice up every six months, but you do not have to. We keep note of your rhythm and get in touch before the next appointment.

What happens if I miss the appointment?

If the record is missing, the Pflegekasse must reduce the care allowance (Pflegegeld) appropriately and withdraw it altogether if it happens again. So the visit is not mere formality. If a deadline has already passed, get in touch all the same: we set an appointment at short notice and file the documentation afterwards.

Does a practice have to prescribe anything, or the fund to agree?

No, neither a prescription nor a decision letter is needed – you call the visit up yourself. The choice is left to you as well: approved care services qualify, and so do advice centres recognised by the Landesverbände and individual qualified nurses commissioned by your Pflegekasse (§ 37 Abs. 3 SGB XI). We belong to the first group and take the appointment on as a single service too. This is not to be confused with home nursing care under SGB V: that needs a Muster 12, the cost of which the health insurer (Krankenkasse) does however carry from the day of issue, provided we hand it in there within the three-working-day deadline.

Do you come even if it is only about this one appointment?

Yes. We drive to the advisory visit across the whole area, west and north; the postcodes that go with it are in the section above. Because it is a single appointment and not a daily round, we are more flexible about timing than with ongoing care. Give us the address when you enquire and we will settle within the same call whether it lies inside the area.

Who should be there for the visit?

Above all the person who actually does the caring – much of the advice is aimed at them. Other relatives can join in, or be brought in by phone, even from another city. We speak German, English or Russian; tell us when arranging the appointment which comes easier to you.

Arrange an advisory visit under § 37.3

Call 030 64828209 or write to info@sonnenstrahlen-pflege.de. Give us the care level (Pflegegrad), the address and the date of the last visit, and we will tell you when the next appointment falls due.

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What you can rely on

  • Licensed care provider: Care provision contract under § 72 SGB XI and approval for home nursing care under § 37 SGB V; listed in the Berlin state register of care providers.
  • Billed directly with your insurer: with all statutory health and nursing care insurers; privately insured clients receive an invoice for their insurer.
  • Accepting new patients: we respond the same working day.
  • We work with hospitals: we take over directly from hospital discharge management, coordinated with clinic, GP practice and insurer.
  • Three offices in Berlin: Sickingenstr. 52 (Moabit), Heilbronner Str. 1 (Halensee), Theodor-Heuss-Platz 1 (Westend).
  • German · English · Russian: care and consultation in your language.

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